by Karen Kasler
State officials are celebrating that a company from Thailand will spend $100 million in eastern Ohio just to investigate whether they can build a gas facility there.
PTT Global Chemical will spend the next year on detailed engineering work in Belmont County at the possible site of what's called an ethane cracker.
“This facility will take the natural gas and they will be able to crack that natural gas and break it down and create plastics,” Gov. John Kasich said. “This is a big deal when we talk about the downstream.”
Kasich says it could mean hundreds of construction jobs and then permanent positions if the company decides to build its multi-billion dollar project in Ohio – along with jobs in the textile, drug and packaging manufacturing industries that would use the plastics